Women's Tennis

Women's Tennis Defeats Cal Poly 4-3

Apr 06, 2002

April 6, 2002

SANTA CLARA, Calif. -
The Santa Clara University women's tennis team earned an exciting 4-3 victory over Cal Poly this afternoon at the SCU Tennis Center. The Broncos' overall record improves to 10-7 on the season, while the Mustangs' falls to 9-9 overall.

Cal Poly took the first point of the afternoon with two solid victories on the first and third doubles courts. Bronco senior Nicole McCord paired with junior Christine Limbers for a 9-7 victory on court two to avoid the sweep.

In singles, the match was tied at two points apiece after Limbers and freshman Catherine Cochrane earned victories for the Broncos on courts one and five, while Cal Poly's Chelsey Thompson grabbed a win on the fourth court.

Danielle Hustedt gave the Mustangs a 3-2 match advantage with her 6-2, 7-5 victory over freshman Janalle Kaloi on court two, providing both programs a sense of déją vu.

Last season, the Broncos were down 3-2 against Cal Poly and a team victory came down to the final two matches, both being played by then-sophomores Pati Ruiz and Mariko Kawakami. Both SCU players lost their respective matches to give the Mustangs a team victory. This year, Ruiz and Kawakami turned the tables.

Down 4-5 in the second set, Ruiz won three straight games to secure a 6-2, 7-5 victory over CP's Erica Nelson at No. 6 singles and tie the team score at 3-3. Kawakami, playing the same opponent she faced in last year's loss, registered a 6-3, 3-6, 6-1 win over Stephanie Westrich at No. 3 singles to clinch the match for the Broncos.

"Pati and Mariko were both in the zone," Bronco head coach Aby Ryan said. "I knew we needed to stay level mentally to win this match and everybody was a rock. It's always a really close match when we play Cal Poly, so I'm really happy with today's victory."

Fans attending today's match were treated the program's newest addition to its three-year-old facility, an electronic scoreboard. With its LED display, scores can be viewed from all courts and the stands, with each court having a wireless controller that allows in-progress match scores to be sent to the board during changeovers.